There’s no way you don’t know about this feud by now, so we’re not going to dwell all that much on what’s come before.
Quinny and David Warner have been under the spotlight since that first video did the rounds, and by now you probably know what was said between the two before the stairwell incident.
The second test kicks off tomorrow in PE, and you can expect fireworks from the get-go. Neither team are backing down, and David Warner was pretty adamant that he was right to confront the Proteas ‘keeper.
Via Cricinfo, Warner spoke for the first time since admitting guilt to his Level Two charge:
“I think you guys are well aware that I cop it left, right and centre, especially off the field from spectators. I am used to that and it doesn’t bother me,” Warner said in Port Elizabeth.
“But in the proximity of my personal space and behind me, a comment that was vile and disgusting and about my wife and just in general about a lady was quite poor, I felt, and as I said my emotional response, you saw, was just something that I don’t believe should have been said.
“I will always stick up for my family. And in that case, my team-mates as well. I just would have liked him to say the comment a little bit louder, instead of muttering it under his breath next to me and Tim Paine, and then walking up the stairs and saying ‘I didn’t say anything’ as soon as the rest of his team came out. At the end of the day, we’re all men, and if you’re going to say something, you look someone in the eye and say it.
“I’ve always felt that when it comes to family or racism comments or anything like that, that’s just a no-go zone…
I can’t see anyone else making comments the way that he made them, which were outright disgusting. As I said, it’s a thing you wouldn’t say about any lady, especially someone’s wife or a player’s wife.”
Cool, but then he chirps Quinny’s sister and mother?
Oh David, shoe on the other foot is rather uncomfy, hey?
Fancy a look at the exact moment Quinton dropped that chirp? You’re in luck, because this footage has now emerged:
Sheesh, this one would have been a brawl if Tim Paine hadn’t intervened.
Later today Ozzie skipper Steve Smith and Faf du Plessis will meet the umpires and the match referee, Jeff Crowe, “to ensure the remainder of the series is played on a “hard but fair” platform agreeable to both sides”.
Smith also took responsibility for his team’s behaviour – kind of:
“We’re going to meet with the umpires and the match referee as well, to ensure that things don’t get out of hand. Something like this can certainly make some sparks for the rest of the series, but that’s not the way I see it and I don’t want the series to pan out that way. What happened in the last game I think both sides, or our side certainly has some regrets in the way things were done. I can’t speak for them but it’s about ensuring that cricket is the main talking point for the rest of the series.”
I love a good test match against the Ozzies, and there are few recent battles more mouthwatering than tomorrow’s encounter.
Let’s just hope both sides show the necessary decorum and lay off the personal jibes, although I don’t imagine the crowd will do the same.
Rumour has it there might be a Sonny Bill Williams mask or two, and you can bet someone is going to blow this photo up:
Nothing irks the Ozzies more than losing, though, so let’s just hit them where it hurts the most.
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